The documentary film questions whether contemporary art should or must play a special role in the face of this unique crisis in human history? What can or should so-called ‚climate art‘ achieve today? The film takes a look at outstanding artistic positions from all over the world on the subject, expanding our European perspective to include important voices from the Global South. The film also calls for self-criticism and initiates a debate about what can art afford? To what extent do the artists themselves deal with their CO2 footprint? The documentary creates a cinematographic survey of the current artistic debate on the climate crisis and its consequences and as different as the positions may be: They represent a multi- faceted mirror that shows how people all over the world are dealing individually with what is probably the most existential crisis in human history, transforming powerlessness in resistance and eventually in activism and creativity. Featuring artists like Olafur Eliasson, Sebastiao Salgado, Agnes Denes, Claire Fontaine, Romuald Hazoume, Julian Charriere, Tita Salina, Andreas Greiner and Fabian Knecht.
Director – Mathias Frick
Over the past two decades the trained architect and film director Mathias Frick has specialised in documentary films in the field of culture – in particular art, artist portraits, architecture and jazz. During this time, he has made thirteen long documentary films commissioned by German public television – Arte and 3Sat – as well as Swiss, Austrian and French television. The documentaries have also been shown at film festivals in over 25 countries and broadcast by television stations in 15 countries. Over the past 15 years, Mathias Frick has worked on his films with over forty museums and more than thirty artists, photographers and architects world-wide. For the realisation of his film projects, Mathias Frick received the renowned Gerd Ruge Scholarship from the Medienstiftung NRW as well as the Crossing-Borders Scholarship of the Bosch-Foundation. He has been working with production companies in Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Vienna, Paris and Zurich. Mathias Frick lives with his family in Berlin.